Poetry

  The Swearing-in of Calvin Coolidge ---Plymouth Notch, Vermont, 1923 Strange, the postman’s loud, insistent knock (The nearest phone, in town, two miles away) Which roused them out of bed at one o’clock, Tired from bringing in the August hay. And stranger still, two telegrams they read By lantern light:...

  Ballad of the Sequoia _Six hundred years ago, My seed was planted in the ground, _A life so full of promise, And the green grass all around, _Since then, I’ve weathered storms; I’ve seen my brothers come and go, _But here I am still rooted, In this valley here...

  The 51st State "A republic, if you can keep it." — Benjamin Franklin, attributed answer after the Constitutional Convention, 1787 I sometimes wish—in England now— We were the 51st State Of America—and knew somehow We'd failed the test, become third rate. The Puritans who left these shores, First from...

  La Uva I packed a bag of grapes into her lunch. My hands resembled his, though not as worn; they brought me back to what he told me once, just days before my little girl was born. … “Ay, mijo, come outside,” my grandpa said. He swung the screen...

  There’s Blood that Flows Within the Stripes There’s blood that flows within the stripes; _The stripes upon the flag, Those streaks of red on purest white, Were watched by Key throughout the night, _And none would let it sag. There’s blood that flows within the stripes, _The blood of...

  Birdsong If I might for a moment go all soft And corny; hold in humble hands aloft A simple thought about a simple thing: The sound of morning birds who sing and sing As daylight starts its soft intrusive creep And drives away the blurry world of sleep. I...

  The Melody That Lingers On “Any requests?” the leader asked from the Old Time Country Band. “Just tell us what you’d like to hear, we’ll play it if we can.” “There is this song,” an old man said, “I’ve forgotten through the years, but the melody won’t go away,...

  American Dreams   I Dreams of new realms, refuge outside The scepter’s and the crozier’s reach: Dour, black-clad zealots braved the seas, The cold, gray waves, the churning tide, To glimpse upon that distant beach A hostile waste where north blasts freeze--- An untamed, virgin world to build Their...

  An American Fabius I shan’t soon forget that impactful day When my son marched with face weathered cloudy and gray. His tears bitter rain as his chest moved in heaves, Crying, “Daddy, I do not know who to believe! My hero, George Washington, just died today! Puzzled, I urged...

  Vernal Clinic To regular observers, spring had never seemed So jarringly abnormal as it did this year. Its bright chromatic strains came winging in, some claimed, On airships made from canvas scrap and two-by-four. The whole three months came off as crudely improvised, A makeshift presentation staged without a...

  Omaha Beach The ramp went down, and the brute din of war Was like a furnace. Some collective will Drew us into the water, and the air Bloomed with sour bullets. They sank their roots in me As if I were a rotted corpse. I fell, And I was...

  Music to Part the Veil ---on first hearing Mendelssohn’s 5th forty years ago. The winter sun had just begun to light the morning sky as I cranked up my car to head back home. The group of men I met with every Tuesday morning were as bright as any...

  A Gentleman’s Guide to Losing a War I hold my spyglass to my face, _And straighten my cravat. A cannonball just flew on by, _And flattened my best hat! I brought some fancy silver spoons _To have a pleasant war, But soon the stupid peasants came, _And battered at...

  Black Shuck There are curious marks on the north door of Holy Trinity, in Blythburgh, England. Tradition has it that they were left by the scorching paws of Black Shuck, a fearsome dog which tried to force its way into the church one violently tempestuous night in 1577. Some...

  When the Last World War II Veteran Passes Away _Lower the flag, men! The last great one has passed. _Take care of Old Glory, Set her down at half-mast. _As boys they grew up In the Dustbowl’s great heat. _The Depression taught them How to make short ends meet....

  A Fallow Year at Worthy Farm No Glastonbury Festival occurs at Worthy Farm in twenty twenty-six. the land, where banished wildlife once more stirs can testify to Nature’s magic fix. No chemicals from leaky porta-loos will seep into the grassed and flowery leas; and cows---usurped by punters swigging booze...

  Outstanding in Afghanistan The man rose up at break of day, His feet like thunder on the ground, He marched through heat along the way, But never heard the danger's sound. He ran through bases, full patrol, He watched for targets, cold and gone, He steadied breath and steadied...

  250 More My country, sweetest home I’ve come to know, Your wings have sheltered me, a foreigner. I came to you a migrant as a boy, Without the blessing of your government. But still you loved me, educated me, Prepared me for the tasks I bear today. America, I...

  Americans Cross the Rubicon   1. Preamble Be proud, be grateful that we’re here! We came In pain from stifling lands which we outgrew, And crossed the wildest seas that we might live. It’s madness to assume a stance of shame. We took vast risks and offered all we...

  Two Fateful American Coin Flips   Asa Lovejoy, Francis Pettigrew & The Portland Penny We settled on the banks of the Willamette, “The Clearing’s” what we called our settlement. “A better name could prove to be an asset,” Said Asa, and I shared his sentiment. “It’s 1845 and folks...

  Clarence Thomas, American Hero “The mob I now faced carried no ropes or guns. It s weapons were smooth-tongued lies spoken into microphones and printed on the front pages of America’s newspapers. It no longer sought to break the bodies of its victims. Instead it devasted their reputations and...

  What America Was Meant to Be We often hear what they said back then, no crown should rule over women or men, no single hand should hold that key, to bend the lives of you or me. No whim of power, no passing decree, should decide who lives in...

  America: 250 Years Should we commit to celebrate our birth? We’ve run so many laps around the sun, Yet in our nuanced realm upon this earth We may not cherish all that we have done. Our country, on the balance, stood for good. It claimed the peaks of freedom,...

  The Second Rain A grandly booming, flashing shower Comes flying in and promptly starts To soak the neighborhood an hour. This done, still rumbling, it departs. The garden plants, once somnolent, Are jostled wet awake and clean, While in long grasses skewed and bent Droplets shine and the day...

  Archaic Torso of Apollo by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) translated from German by Mary Jane Myers We'll never know his head, its mythic fame, the fiery ripening-apple eyes, although his torso casts a candelabra’s glow, the gaze now dialed down to a lower flame, its gleam preserved. Or else...

  The Council of Infinite Opinions A council met where certainty was banned, And every truth was shaped by shifting hand. “No fact may stand,” they spoke with measured breath, “Unless it bends to every shade of depth.” The wise withdrew; the louder filled the floor, Each syllable a carefully...

  The SCP Edition of Homer's Odyssey, translated by Michael Solot, is now being released as a historic audiobook---marking the first fully dramatized version of The Odyssey. Listen to the first book for free here: https://www.odyssey-illustrated.com/audiobook A new book will be released every Sunday for twenty-four weeks.  The entire audiobook...

  Not Small At All I’ve gained appreciation for the smaller things in life, The uneventful days when all is pleasant, free from strife. Where family’s fine and things I need work perfectly each time, While plans are all accomplished, and there’s calmness that’s sublime.     Human Nature? If...

  The Roommate It’s early morning (morning prayer): I hear Her in her room as now and then she sighs Or groans or mutters out a word or two (Quite indecipherable but flush with fear). At first disturbing, now it’s no surprise, A morning sound (as outside pigeons coo…). I...

  Pouting Polly Polly Esther finds her vesture positively snoring. Even worse, her purse looks like a tile of kitchen flooring. She’s not enthused about her shoes whose hues are lacking flair, And swears a hairless bear would never dare the ware she wears. Now Loafing Lester is a bear...

  Elizabeth Barrett Browning Has Second Thoughts How do I hate you? Let me count the flaws: I hate you for the sappy way you smile; Your limping gait, as if you had the yaws; Your vague uncertain dreaming, and the vile Habit you have of staying far too long...

  Then and Now The gallery faces return: I name their names, These powers invading dreams, who being dead Are more alive, because of what they mean, Than all the living, ignorant of need. King Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere And a whole mythos for a Holy Grail; Achilles’ wrath, thoughts...

  The Ministry of Twee The Ministry’s role is to banish the soul _In poems the poets send in--- To snuff out the spark at the core of the stark, Extinguish the sear of a kiss in the dark, To vaporize tears in the lilt of the lark _And toss...

  Breath of Night A sullen breath pervades the night the rhythmic stillness I can hear where peaceful dreams grow wings in flight; the thrum of drumming in my ear the rhythmic stillness I can hear, it thumps within my hollow chest; the thrum of drumming in my ear the...

Among the Redwoods by Edward Rowland Sill (1841-1887) FAREWELL to such a world! Too long I press The crowded pavement with unwilling feet. Pity makes pride, and hate breeds hatefulness, And both are poisons. In the forest, sweet The shade, the peace! Immensity, that seems To drown the human life...

  Kaddish for My Father Yitgadal v’yitkadash sh’mai rabah… I’ve said the mourner’s kaddish now a thousand times To mark the 30 years since I last held your hand And hoped that you could hear me through the tubes and drone Of the machines that kept your weak lungs pumping...

  Canceled I reckon the outcome is just So cancel away if you must. It speaks to the fear That all Marxists adhere: "In our victimization we trust!"     Your Foundation Your foundation is timeless and true. Generations seek comfort in you. The Goodness you house, God's word you...

  The Diamond When Earth was young and life was new An alien forest clothed a land Where dreadful monsters crept and flew, All meant for my beloved’s hand. They went the way of all life, fell To earth, beneath earth to withstand A lightless, crushing, white-hot hell--- All this...

  The Dancer The dancer turns elegantly: her pivot light and feathery, her eyes as brilliant as a wren’s, her lithe form swanlike as she spins in ceremonial artistry. The dance is life, felicity, and also deep despondency. Away from falls, time and again, __the dancer turns. The nimble dancer...

  Chastity ‘My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away.’ ---The Song of Songs, The Bible   1. Arise, O Sleeper, wake, when did you last Perceive the brushing breeze against your skin, A burning heat, the winter's icy blast, Another’s...